Exhibition The Blue Gold Under Threat

Until 31 Aug 2013, the L’Occitane Museum in Manosque presents the work of photographer José Nicolas around lavender. A series of snapshots that pays tribute to the lavender industry of Provence, which is rallying to save this “blue gold,” today in decline.

The photographer José Nicolas has been working in Provence for over 20 years. Established in Aix-en-Provence, he crisscrosses the region to capture its splendors, meet its inhabitants, and transmit its craftsmanship. A ubiquitous subject in Provence, lavender makes a marvelous décor for his photographs. Between landscapes striped with blue from Goult to Roussillon, by way of Senanque and the Sault Plateau, and portraits of growers and pickers like Marguerite Blanc, and distillers, it’s the entire industry that the photographer has captured. Right up to the French fragrant plants research organization the CRIEPPAM, that leads active research on the decline of lavender. Indeed, lavender is suffering assaults by a leafhopper, which by feeding on the branches introduces a phytoplasma that causes the plant’s slow decline. Thanks to the research and rallying of the actors of this industry – just as important economically as culturally – lavender receives special attention. L’Occitane mobilizes around this precious heritage by participating in the endowment fund created to finance research, and by signing contracts with the lavender growers that guarantee the purchase of their harvest for the next five years. Initiatives that you can support by making a donation to www.sauvegarde-lavandes-provence.org.

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